Most of the changes are not visible to the user, we’ve upgraded from Rails 2 to Rails 3 and moved from restful-authentication to authlogic. The app has been given a visual referesh and the following new features added:

My account page

It’s possible to view and edit your login and email address. Account deletion is now possible without emailing support too!

Delete updates

It’s now possible to delete individual updates.

Testing the app

The app is not yet production ready, but it is now possible to test it. You will need Phonelocator 1.0 mobile app from the Ovi store. After installing and starting the application, switch to the settings pane and set the host name to stage.phonelocator.mobi. Then switch back to the status pane and sign in as normal. You will need to create an account on stage.phonelocator.mobi even if you already on perioidc.phonelocator.mobi. If you already have Phonelocator 1.0 installed on your phone, you’ll need to remove it and re-install using the Ovi store.

Lost phone alarm

The loud lost phone alarm is activated by sending an SMS message to the phone. Great for finding your phone even when it’s in silent mode!

Passcode protected uninstall

Prevent unuthorized persons from removing the app form the phone. Extremly useful to stop your kids removing the app or if your phone is stolen.

Hidden trigger messages

Trigger location updates without SMS messages appearing in the phone’s inbox. A fantastic feature if your phone is stolen.

Better GPS accuracy

The GPS session is held open longer before sending updates to improve GPS accuracy.

More positioning methods

Support for the phone’s built in Wi-Fi and Network positioning methods – handy for urban environments where GPS does not work.

Phonelocator Periodic is available here.

It costs $3 / €3 / £3 in most jurisdictions. Phonelocator Periodic 0.9 and access to the Phonelocator Periodic web site remain free.

In January, Birkett Enterprise launched a new phone tracking service, Phonelocator Periodic. Unlike the previous Phonelocator service, retrospectively dubbed Phonelocator Trail,  Phonelocator Periodic can be run in the background on the phone all the time without a noticeable effect on the phone’s battery life. Despite Phonelocator Trail‘s battery saver and intelligent update features, running the application constantly was not an option on some phones. This was because the drain on the battery caused by the GPS (especially A-GPS which requires an open data context) was too great. Phonelocator Periodic solves this problem by opening the GPS periodically rather than holding it open all the time when the phone is moving. This results in an application that can be run in the background all the time without a perceivable effect on battery life. The cost of this approach is the detail of the information recorded; rather than seeing a trail  it’s only possible to see discrete points on the map.

At the time of writing, Phonelocator Periodic has been downloaded more than 934787 times from the Nokia Ovi store which has resulted in more than 200,000 registrations on the web site.

A new version of Phonelocator Periodic app for Symbian OS, version 1.0,  was completed in December and Symbian Signed and will be available on the Ovi store just as soon as it has completed the Ovi Store’s QA process. The new version boasts: lost phone alarm, passcode protected uninstall, hidden trigger messages, better GPS accuracy and more positioning methods.

In August, Birkett Enterprise launched Phonelocator Text, an application to send a phone’s location as a link in a text message to another phone. The application is available on the Ovi store here. In October, the application was updated to support the Arabic, Russian, German, Chinese (Mandarin), Italian, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese and Norwegian languages.

This year Birkett Enterprise have collaborated with a Brazilian company, VIA Rastreamento, to developed a tracking application to compliment VIA Rastreamento‘s existing tracking service that uses bespoke tracking hardware.

After running Phonelocator Trail on Dreamhost servers since it’s launch in July 2008, this year we moved both Phonelocator Trail and Phonelocator Periodic to Linode servers.  Dreamhost disabled the Phonelocator service because despite running on it’s own virtual server it was “loading down the entire host”. So far, Birkett Enterpise are very happy with the Linode service and their customer service who have dealt with queries promptly and courteously.

Our hopes for 2011 are:

• More Symbian OS apps based on the Phonelocator code base
• Improved Phonelocator web application
• Android based tracking client

Happy new year!